The Vermont Chronicles
by S058
Summary: the adventures of Agent Vermont in the RVB universe. please R and R. CANCELED!
1. Chapter 1

A/N: this takes place in the RVB universe just before the appearance of Tex for the first time. "dialogue" no I do not own either Rooster Teeth Productions or Halo so don't sue

Freelancer Vermont had just finished being debriefed by the Director and was approaching his quarters when he realized something was abnormal. There was a guard standing outside his room and his MA5B rifle was at the order arms position with only a swift movement required to bring it into a firing position. He wondered at this but approached the guard and asked," why are you standing outside my quarters, private?"

The private paled and said" Sorry sir but you have been scheduled to have your AI, Beta removed due to the fact that numerous AI's are going Rampant(1), and we want to store him in a secure location." Vermont smiled and in one fluid motion grabbed the rifle, slammed it up into the private's nose and yanked it away as the private fell to the ground, stunned or dead. His helmet made a loud crash as it hit the floor, creating a clamor that worried Vermont. He activated the infrared sensors in his artificial eyes, the natural ones having been lost in a firefight with some Covenant Spec-Op grunts and saw in his quarters 5 guards armed with M7 SMGs, wearing jet-black bodysuits with a polarized visor, and now all facing the door.

Sighing, the Freelancer considered his options: he could just walk away from the room, an option that he immediately decided against; all his equipment was still inside the room. He could fight, and very likely win, but would be badly wounded. The black jumpsuit he was wearing was not tested against bullets, as it was intended as a buffer between a Freelancer and their MJOLNIR armor.

He searched the prone guard, and found a couple of fragmentation grenades, a combat knife, a flashbang, and three extra clips for the MA5B. He smiled, and reached for the assault rifle.

The door to the room slid open, and the guards all opened fire in unison spraying the wall outside the door with several dozen bullets. A cloud of smoke filled the air, blocking out sight of the doorway. A second later, a small cylinder flew inside the room from the other side of the doorway, and hit the floor. There was a blinding flash of white light, a tremendous bang, and then just nothing.

Vermont smiled, flipped the toggle fire switch on his assault rifle to the "safe" position, and inspected his handiwork. The guard's visors apparently were not bulletproof, as he had feared. There was a small cluster of holes in the middle of each of their foreheads, a testament to Vermont's deadly accuracy, even with an inaccurate weapon like the MA5B, which was why Vermont was always the designated sniper on a mission.

Vermont keyed in a code on his 'pad, and a hidden compartment in the wall slid open, revealing a stand with his black Hayabusa armor on it. Next to it was a rack containing a M6D pistol, 2 energy swords, and a BR55 rifle. Both the guns had several magazines in the shelf below the rack of its respective weapon. Without wasting a moment, Vermont slipped the armor onto his body. Last of all, he put the helmet over his head, and it flickered to life, the HUD showing his room. The suit quickly ran through the standard startup diagnostics and showed that all systems were in the green. He grabbed the weapons off the rack, slipped the pistol into a side holster, following up by putting the swords in their hidden sockets on his wrists, then putting the BR on his back where magnetic clamps held it in place.

Before Vermont left however, he wanted to see if a couple friends wanted to leave now before Command heard about his refusal to obey orders. He estimated that he had some 30 minutes before base security wondered why this patrol had not reported in. He pulled up the base's security cameras controls on his datapad and created an electronic ghost of himself and the guards walking down to the AI bay and he removed the guard's bodies from the screens in his room and the outside corridor. He flipped through camera images before he saw his target. It looked as though Colorado and Washington had heard about the AI removal and were reacting differently. Colorado was shooting his way through base security with Tex in the vehicle pool while Wash paced around his room.

He dismissed asking Wash if he wanted to leave; he had been accepted into the elite Recovery unit and was not turning his back on Command now. Colorado however looked like he could use a hand and he had been nice somewhat to him during basic. Tex, he was sure could use a lift out to her boyfriend's outpost and besides, Colorado owed him a favor that he was in the mood to collect. He strode out of his room and accessed the base's safety systems, triggering the fire alarm. At that moment, the fire alarm's sirens went off and a computer generated voice announced" Warning, there has been report of a fire in the base. All personnel are requested to please evacuate the base. This is not a drill." While the alarm blared, he accessed the hanger systems, and from there he used the remote startup codes to prep a Longsword interceptor that was slated for a recon mission.

He activated his armor's holographic generators and the Spartan vanished to reappear disguised as a guard, clad in one of the bodysuits like the ones in his room wore. He called Colorado on his COM while running off towards him, and said" I see that you aren't in the mood to give up your AI as well. I have a offer for you, we can fight our way to a ship, and we will escape. I cannot raise Tex so ask her if she wants a ride out to Blood Gulch. I am disguised as a guard in a black bodysuit."

He replied after a minute" Tex and I are in but how will you disable the SAM batteries?"

Vermont said," They never found Beta's back door into the air defenses so I'll override them and we can escape in the confusion."

He then arrived just as the guards decided to try using one of the Scorpion tanks to kill the Freelancers. Vermont slipped on top of the tank and hijacked it after a quick struggle with the driver and said" Need a ride?"

Tex said" took ya long enough."

Vermont concentrated on the guards who were now running for their lives and fired the main cannon at the blast doors leading to the hanger. They crumpled and the Longsword was right there, ready to fly, the engines generating a bit of heat as they slowly came to full power, while the access ramp slowly lowered to the ground. Vermont climbed out of the Scorpion, and together with Tex and Colorado, they walked out to the ship.

The three Freelancers climbed into the ship with Vermont slipping into the pilot seat while Colorado and Tex took the passenger seats and strapped in. He plugged a override code into the ship's console and began arming the weapons, namely the AGSM missiles. He then saw the SAM missiles command vehicles, targeted them and fired. The tracked vehicles exploded, and the SAM missiles powered down, their targeting systems having just been destroyed.

Vermont powered up the engines and flew towards Blood Gulch saying" thank you for choosing Vermont airways. Our current destination is Blood Gulch followed by…" he glanced at Colorado who said" the old training base with the wheel" "a old training ground followed up by a classified location." He switched off the intercom and said "I have no plans on alerting anyone to my location so don't call me after you're dropped off unless it's vital. "

After a few hours, they arrived over Blood Gulch and they dropped off Tex there. She arrived at blue base and from the looks of things; she was going to go stir-crazy from boredom there. During the flight out to the old training ground, he and Colorado discussed their plans. Colorado was going to spread the word around that there was a semi-safe place for Freelancers to hold up. Vermont, however was going to be a freelance assassin and already even had an old base of operations lined up; a military base that had been abandoned. He had heard about it when he was in Command's files and had even secretly made a trip or two out to it to stash supplies and the like. It was isolated but easily defensible and could hold off a attacking force for a long time. The base was codenamed High Ground.

He dropped Colorado off and landed at his new base. The base was built with its front facing a beach and was well designed: there was an old bunker near the wall that he sealed up as it was too vulnerable to defend. Next he repaired a portion of the wall that was blown apart and finally he fixed the gates so he could easily open and close them. He had secretly carved out underneath the base an underground hanger with a room built into the side that served as an air raid shelter. Vermont landed in the hanger and while he was on approach, he turned on a beacon identifying him as a friendly and the hidden SAM batteries and AAA guns disarmed themselves. He landed and climbed out of the aircraft. Along the way, he reached behind his back, grasped a seemingly random piece of his suit, ripped it off and crushed it between his hands. Now that the hidden tracking system was destroyed, he strolled into the elevator, which led to the upper level of the base. He pushed the up button, and the elevator rose up into the ceiling. It jolted to a stop, and the doors slid open.

The elevator had dropped him off in his bedroom, where he climbed out of his armor, placing off to the side, and climbing into the bed. He dropped off to sleep, grateful that he was at last free from Command, free to do whatever he wanted to do.

A/N:

(1) Rampant – AI "develops delusions of godlike power", as well as utter contempt for its mentally inferior human makers, usually resulting in a massive death toll.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N I will be featuring a crossover of sorts with Never Loyal's author. We each feature the other's freelancer in their story. 10 internet points as to who the character is and the usual disclaimers still apply so do not sue.

Vermont awoke in his base, comfortable with the fact that he had struck back against Command and the Director whom he had always hated. He wondered if he should try to get revenge possibly also getting some new gear as well or simply become an assassin. He decided to first spend some time modifying his new aircraft before he tried anything. He climbed out of bed and lurched into the shower. 30 minutes later, he was in the kitchen eating a breakfast of MREs he had "borrowed" from Command while he considered some of the possibilities that he could do with the equipment lying around.

He remembered the ECM(1) and sensor jamming package that he had stolen off of a downed Prowler, one that had been shot down, and he was sent in to destroy it. He had done so, but had been smart enough to see a rare opportunity, so he swiped the jamming gear, destroyed the hulk then claimed that the gear went up with the rest of the Prowler. They had bought the excuse, and he had brought the gear home, repaired it, and then began looking for a buyer who was in the Freelancer program. He was not about to sell the gear to just anyone, he wanted to sell it to someone who he knew and trusted. However, no one had ever displayed the slightest interest in it, so he put it aside and forgot about it.

He got up from the table, and walked into the electronics room. The room was medium sized, and had several workbenches bolted to the walls with toolboxes on a couple of the tables. He strode over to the table with the new gear, grabbed it, and then he grabbed a nearby toolbox. He walked over to the elevator, placed the items on the floor, then he strode over to a nearby computer terminal, where he printed out a copy of the Longsword blueprints and put them in a pocket.

He then rode the elevator down to the hanger, where he walked over to the aircraft. He climbed into the cockpit, where he began searching the display for the upgrade slots. The Longsword had evidently been modified for long-range reconnaissance, as there was a cryotube display, a large weapons locker, and even a mini kitchen. He however, did see the universal plugs, and inserted the ECM gear's USB plug into a slot. It whirred for a second, while the systems synchronized with each other, but after a couple seconds, the ECM gear icon appeared on the HUD. He smiled, and looked at the blueprints, considering the possibilities. He saw that the missile bay's capacity had been increased, and filled to their new maximum capacity of 35 AGSM missiles. He also saw that the engines were configured so that they generated less heat than a normal ship's engines while retaining the amount of power.

He decided to do a test run of the modifications, as well as to tweak Command's noses. He decided to try to sneak into one of Command's weapon research labs, in order for him to set up a backdoor into their system and to see if he could score some potentially useful equipment. He checked the list of Commands' hidden research centers; there was 15 of them, and he decided on the most profitable target: MARS (2) industries' facility on Sidewinder. The facility had minimum security due to their budget from Command being slashed, it was isolated enough to prevent easy reinforcement, and best of all, they were rumored to be working on a top-secret project. He pulled up the virtual charts, and began plotting out his journey, which took about 30 minutes. He calculated out the travel time, which would take about several hours.

He pulled up the facility's blueprints and was amazed at the size of the facility. It was a huge underground complex, covering about half a mile of corridors, labs, and manufacturing lines. It even had a full-scale testing chamber for their weapons, so they could design weapons, test them, and make them all in one spot. He looked over the security diagrams and was instantly worried. It seemed that over half of the 284 staff members were assigned to security and it looked like his original impressions about their lax security was wrong. There was overlapping security cameras, sentry guns that were triggered by the cameras as well as independent targeting systems, blast doors, laser tripwires, a backup fusion reactor, air vents which had grates measured in millimeters, and to top it all off, the facility's electronics were EMP hardened in order to prevent someone from disabling the alarms. In short, the facility was built like Fort Knox and in order for Vermont to get inside he would need some help. He decided to pick up Tex, and then see if York wanted to have some fun.

He started the fighter's engines up, and set a course for Blood Gulch. In the meantime, he decided to plan an assault with Tex and York on the facility. He pulled up the blueprints, and began planning the attack.

(1) ECM= ElectronicCounterMeasures, stuff like chaff, flares, things that disrupt targeting sensors.

(2) this is from GI Joe, the Rise of Cobra which I borrowed. I do not own MARS industries, otherwise I wouldn't be writing this on my laptop.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Usual disclaimer that I do not own the RVB universe, which belongs to Rooster Teeth Productions, do not sue me yadda yadda yadda. Takes place during episode 19 and right after it. Also check out Never Loyal by bezerkoid, who has Vermont in it.

Vermont decided to try to get in contact with Tex, to see if she wanted to help him out break into the facility. He opened a COM channel to Tex and said, "This is Freelancer Vermont calling Freelancer Tex. Hello I say again, Agent Tex can you respond over?" After a moment, a voice came on but it was not Tex's "Hey there mr. loud voice, uhh Tex is dead."

Vermont yelled:" Dead!!!! What the hell happened to her?"

a different voice cut on" Hey, Caboose get off the radio! Uhh, yeah whoever you are Tex was killed when a plasma grenade stuck to her chest. Who are you?"

Vermont said, "Freelancer Vermont, and I was calling to see if she wanted to do a job with me, but now I feel that I need to go pay Blood Gulch a visit and avenge her demise. You're Church right?"

Church said," Yeah, wait how'd ya know that?"

"Ohh, Tex and I go back to basic, so we were good friends, and I dropped her off in the Gulch."

Vermont cut the COM channel, and steered his ship towards Blood Gulch, but as he flew towards the canyon, he thought about Tex, and some of his fond memories about Project FREELANCER: the time that he had met Colorado and the time he had first gotten his armor being chief among them. He then noticed that he was right at the Gulch, and deployed a UAV (1) while he began his landing sequence. He landed by the base where he had dropped Tex off by. He lowered the ramp, and climbed out while looking around.

The base had blue lights on top, and there was even an outdated Scorpion tank outside the base. He saw no sign that anyone actually was there, so he checked the camera onboard the UAV, which showed three heat signatures on the other side of the base. For some odd reason, they had completely missed his arrival. Shaking his head in disbelief, he slipped around behind the base, while tapping into their COM network. It was gratifying, as he could identify who was out there. There was Church, who was wearing what looked to be aqua blue armor, the annoying guy whom he had first spoken to, who was named Caboose who wore regulation blue armor, and there was Tucker who wore teal armor.

Private Leonard Church was angry. He was angry, as usual at Caboose, who had somehow managed to let their flag be stolen again. Not only was that embarrassing, he had let it be stolen from the same guy who stole it last time. He was in the middle of a tirade at Caboose when he heard something. Instantly he looked towards, the back of the base where the noise had come from. He strained his ears, but heard nothing. Then he heard some music, coming from behind him. He turned, and saw the Reds were coming towards him in their Puma! He pulled the sniper off his back, aimed and fired.

However, the sights were still screwy, and he hit its headlight. He fired again, this time hitting a rock that was several yards right of the front wheel. He yelled "SON OFA BITCH!" and dived out of the way, as one of the Reds opened fire with the chaingun on the back. The bullets panged off the ground, and Church took cover behind a rock while Tucker ran inside the base. He saw Caboose was running where they had dragged the wreckage of Shelia. Church sighed, and hoped that Caboose would somehow get himself killed by the Reds. Then he saw something. He saw a person, clad in jet-black armor step out from behind the base. Church took a good look at him: the person was wearing black armor that unlike Tex's was more ornate. The person carried a rifle that he hadn't seen before; it looked sleek and black, and was equipped with a scope. The figure raised the gun, aimed and fired.

_A/N: sorry for the cliffhanger_

(1) UAV- Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Vermont uses a Predator equipped with a COM channel booster, a video camera, and 3 102 mm HEAT (High Explosive, AntiTank) rockets, the rockets the Jackhammer in Halo 3 uses.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: All usual disclaimers still apply, and this is a AU season 2, in which Doc never arrives. However, all the other events will likely occur, so be advised for spoilers. Seriously, go read Never Loyal, it is a great fic and needs some more reviewers/readers.

Private Leonard Church watched in amazement, as the black clad figure opened fire at the red team. The shots blew out the front tires, sending it tumbling end over end, crashing into the side of the base with a tremendous crash. From the wreckage, the red team emerged, and immediately began running for their base, with the maroon solider in the lead, followed up by the rest of the team. Church looked at the black figure, which did nothing, merely watching them flee back to their base.

Tucker's head popped out from the base and he said to Church "who is that guy?" Church only shrugged, and felt a shiver of fear trickle down his spine as the black figure turned, and walked towards him, and as he drew closer, Church could tell that they had gotten another Freelancer, and this one appeared to be more restrained than Tex, which was a good sign he supposed. The Freelancer wore jet-black armor like all the others, but he seemed to walk differently than Tex. Tex had a walk that could be described as arrogant, while this person's could be described as cautious. The figure then spoke, "Hey, you're Church I presume."

Church's face reddened beneath his helmet, and he said" well, it seems that you know my name whereas I don't know yours." He heard a chuckle emerge from the figure who said" remember the conversation we had barely 10 minutes ago? I am Freelancer Vermont, and I am here to avenge the death of my friend, Tex. So, dare I ask what the status of the Blue Army garrison here is?"

Church said" Vermont, with all due respect, if the Reds ever decide to seriously put up a fight, we're screwed. We have Private Caboose, Private Tucker, and me. Caboose and Tucker are useless in a fight, but I am a good shot with the sniper rifle. However, I think someone keeps messing with its sights as I keep missing with it."

Vermont mulled the information over. He knew that the training grounds were supposed to be crewed with the dregs of the military: soldiers who showed promise but lacked discipline, were too high demanding to be of any use in the field or were just plain too stupid to receive any orders except for the most basic. Originally, Command had been planning to turn them away, but then Project FREELANCER had come on line, and they needed test subjects for the Freelancers to test out their equipment. The dregs were planted in a canyon in the middle of nowhere, told they were on two different sides, and left alone for the most part. Occasionally when a Freelancer wanted to relieve some stress, or to test out some new equipment, they came to the canyon. Before then they had been forced to use isolated outposts, which were often better defended than they would have liked.

Vermont himself had nearly been killed when he had attempted to take out his stress on a Red Army outpost, which had just received a shipment of armor piercing ammunition and a couple Hornets that were equipped with COM jammers. The shipment had been sent to the wrong outpost, as they were expecting spare parts for their Warthogs. To say the least, the next few hours had been quite… interesting, as they had chased Vermont all over the ruins of the city the outpost was guarding. He had only been saved when Agent Colorado had arrived and had managed to bushwhack the Hornets with a M19 SAM launcher.

Once they were down, Vermont had summoned the Falchion to his location. Once it had arrived, Vermont had spooled up the AIE-486Hs, and had cut a swath through their ranks. After the attackers were dealt with, he proceeded to the base and placed 7 pounds of C-12(2) high explosive inside the armory. The explosion vaporized the base, and leveled a five-block radius around the base. As He had flown away from the ruins, Vermont vowed that he was never, _never_ doing that again unless he had thoroughly researched the target beforehand.

Vermont asked, "What kind of armaments does the Blue Army have at the base, Church?" Church did a mental checklist in his head and said" we have seven MA5Bs, half a crate of frags, and my sniper rifle. We have enough ammunition, but the big thing we need is parts for the tank."

Vermont nodded and started walking towards the tank wreckage, leaving a staggered Church behind him. Vermont reached the Scorpion tank and gave the wreckage an once-over, sighing as he did so. Apparently, the tank had been nailed with some heavy ordinance, which had ripped through the ceramic-titanium mixture like a knife through hot butter. He saw that the tank had been given some basic repairs, rendering it capable of movement and firing its main gun, but the armor plating had not been replaced, leaving the cockpit open to small arms fire. He inspected the cockpit electronics and found that they had been fried due to an EMP blast. He also noticed a smell that he recognized from his first combat situation: the smell of cooked Freelancer armor and layered underneath the stench of molten armor components, he thought he smelled cooked human flesh. All of a sudden, he noticed a white, translucent figure running towards him, out of the corner of his eye! He tried to react, but was too slow! The figure plowed through him, and he felt a presence engulf his mind. He struggled to move, but he could not. He began to black out, his artificial eyes slowly losing focus.

As he began losing conscious, he heard the other person speak, in a voice that was terrifying yet familiar to him." Buenos Dias, Cockbites. Guess who's back?"(3)

Church watched as the Freelancer inspected the tank. Vermont's attitude was the opposite of Tex's: she was cocky, arrogant and a true bitch. Vermont's was one of laid-back professionalism, confident of his abilities but not so much that he got into trouble. He then noticed the Freelancer was lying on the ground jerking and twitching. It seemed almost like when… like when he had possessed the Red team's commander, and then when he had possessed their robot. Then the figure stood, and said in a loud, clear voice that was distinctly female (4)," Buenos Dias, Cockbites. Guess who's back?" He gasped in shock and said,"" TEX? Is that you?"

(1) This is the Machine Gun turret from Halo 3.

(2) This is their version of C-4 only more powerful. A 4x4 inch cube can bring down a 5-story building so 7lbs would pretty much guarantee that the base was going bye-bye.

(3) Need I really say who the figure is?

(4) I am not sure if in the RVB universe if a person is possessed they speak in the possessor's voice or their host body, so I figure that the possessor's voice makes more sense.


	5. Chapter 5

Notice: This fic has been cancled, due to lack of interest, and canon progressing past the point where I could reasonably update it. I had a blast writing this, but Au Revoir.


End file.
